Lisa's 41st Birthday

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As most know it's our family tradition to celebrate each family member's birthday with breakfast in bed prepared by the other family members. The kids came in with pancakes and gifts at 6:15am!

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The child who is always cold, gave me a lap blanket. The child who likes to sit outside and read, gave me wind chimes for the back porch. And, the baby, well she gave me meat thermometer, which could also be used to check 'liver temperature' for 'time of death' if I need to perform an autopsy! Jon always picks my big gift, but he allows the kids to pick whatever they want to give me! It's always fun to see what they select!

Abigail's 8th Birthday

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My baby turned 8 years old today! I remember finding out I was pregnant with Abigail and thinking, 'I have the perfect daughter and perfect son, what could a third child offer.' That's what I get for thinking! God has taught me much through Abigail, and I have a strong feeling there are many more lessons to come! She's so smart, very witty and just a little rotten! We went and let her pick out her 'big kid' (20") bike, like we did with Caleb and Frankie when each of them were that age. She picked the Hannah Montana Bike! So let's review, in the past 48 hours she has received a pogo stick, roller skates and a new larger bike. . . I need to go review our insurance policy!

Mommy loves you, baby!

McAninch (Kirkwood) Christmas

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Pogo stick, BB gun and a 2,000 piece puzzle. . . . I'll let you figure out who got what! I'm thinking a little sister with a pogo stick looks like target practice for an older brother with a BB gun! The kids enjoyed playing with their 'old cousins' at Granny & Donnie's home!

Pratt Christmas

Christmas at Pawpa and Mimi's house! Mimi helped Abigail on her roller skates and Pawpa and Caleb solved all the worlds problems!

Whitekiller Christmas

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With family out-of-state, Christmas tends to be a several day affair. These are photos at my Mom & Mr. Bob's home. The kids enjoyed chocolate milk and eggnog saved spcial for them!

Merry Christmas to All!

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Above are the 'before' and 'after' Christmas photos! All my pretty color-coded, specially labeled packages will soon be in a landfill! The kids came down stairs at 5:15 this morning to see what Santa left. After checking out their stockings, they came in to wake up Santa and Mrs. Clause! Our packages were filled with MP3's, DVD's, CD's, GPS, DS's and more accronymns. Some of our favorites included roller skates, night vision googles, suduko games & chocolate covered cherries! We hope each of you had a wonderful day, snuggle with those around you and rememeber we love you and are thinking of you!

Night Before a Kirkwood Christmas

And now the Kirkwood Theater brings you our
'Night Before a Kirkwood Christmas':

'Twas the night before Christmas and all thru the house.

Every creature was stirring, and I spilled cheese dip on my blouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Even one for Padme', why that's only fair.

The children were hyper and jumping on beds.

While Mom envisioned the ceiling fan bonking their heads.

Mom in her sweat pants and I in similar attire.

Had just settled down for some assembly required.

When up the stairs there arose such a clatter.

We ran up the stairs to see what was a matter.

Up the stairs Padme' flew like a flash,

Tore open the girls door and heard a large crash.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear?

All three kids frozen in fear.

With a little girl in pigtails, so lively and quick,

Padme' ran to her and began to lick.

More rapid than eagles their excuse they came,

And Dad snapped and shouted and called them by name.

Now Sissy, now Caleb and certainly Abigail.

Get into bed now, without fail.

They each ran to their beds with a fright.

Pulled the covers up and closed their eyes tight.

It will soon be morning and down stairs they will fly.

With shouts of glee they will all cry.

With a furry the pretty paper will all hit the floor,

From all the packages Mom bought at the store.

And just like that, Christmas will be done,

But well sit back and laugh, 'my wasn't that fun!'

Jon, Lisa, Frankie, Caleb & Abigail

More Parties!

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Tonight was Caleb's Jr. High Christmas party with the kids from church. Can you believe Caleb is Jr. High! Oh yeah, back to the party! The kids played the Sneaky Santa game with their gifts. We played several games, including one where Jon and Chad were dressed up as Santa Claus. The party was at my friend Ms. Teri's beautiful home. Jon and I stayed as sponsors and clean up crew. The kids really seemed to have a good time. There were 24 6th, 7th & 8th graders, the Given's were very brave to open their homes up!

Frog Dissection

When Caleb was in 3rd grade we dissected a frog. Now that Abigail is in 3rd grade, it's her turn. With Caleb we used a real frog, not with Abigail. I found this great kit, that the kids laid out all the internal parts. They then mixed a 'goo' jello type substance and poured it into the mold. It then hardened to a rubbery texture and they dissected it. They pretended they were forensic scientist performing and autopsy!

I miss you, Nana!

This is a photo of the smartest, most accomplished woman I've ever known. God blessed her faithfulness with Godly children and Godly grandchildren, and Godly great-grandchildren.

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She was happy and kind and since this is my blog, I'm pretty sure I was her favorite! She would generally call me 'Sis' unlike Granddaddy called me 'His lEEtza kay.'

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When I see the date December 17th, I still remember to celebrate her birth, and legacy. I love her and think of her everyday, I feel her and hear her words throughout my day.

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She would look and my hubby or Frankie and tell me, 'You did good, Sis.' Grandmother loved Paul Harvey's Rest of the Story, Wheel of Fortune, cashews, tomatoes with salt, the tv show Dallas (was her guilty pleasure), and purple slag. She could make a quilt, give a perm, prepare communion bread, fill green stamp books and care for babies. She had a contagious laugh, and when she laughed hard, her eyes would water.

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She loved to sing in church, even when her voice became weak. Since she was short, she had a small footstool on 'her pew.' She could peel a tomato and never loose any of the 'meat', then slice them and serve with salt at every meal. She made the best fried chicken, and best cinnamon rolls, (she also had a secret recipe for cheesecake, but that's another story). She loved growing roses. And I loved her very much!

Santa Cards

One of our service projects for this month was signing and addressing 100+ Christmas cards that will go to Meals on Wheels recipients and a local nursing home for residents that don't normally receive mail. Rockwall County Senior Citizens Center and Meals on Wheels Program will distribute the cards. It was fun addressing cards to a generation with great names like Ethel, and Herbert and Wanda Mae.

Our Texas Family

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Life Group . . . everyone gathered at our home today. We were bursting at the seams, but enjoyed every minute of it! After a yummy Italian meal, we exchanged gifts. Everyone had drawn names at last month's Life Group. Some of the fun gifts included Randy's Bah Hum Bug hat; Carter's Grills (a.k.a. gangsta' gold teeth) and a pillow that read, 'I've been good for this!'

God blessed us with a beautiful day, allowing the kids to go outside, but cold air is on its way. Today was 77 degrees, our high tomorrow is 32 degrees and by Thursday, back up to 70 degrees! Crazy Texas weather!

!! Sleepy Sweeties!!

Jon took this photo this morning! Blake & Baylor spent the night, in case their mom is reading this, we did NOT find them playing their Nintendo DS's at 11:00 last night! Anyone else reading . . . you would never guess they were up until 11pm and then up at 6am showering! I asked Jon what he said that made them laugh so hard, it was, 'Abigail is a jabber-box!' Hmmm, I'm guessing that's genetic . . . from Jon's side of course!

The Nutcracker Ballet

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One of the pleasures of the holiday season is the Nutcracker at Bass Performance Hall in Ft. Worth. The building is magnificent and the ballet is always fabulous! This year we were privileged enough to join our homeschool friends on the fifth row, center stage, orchestra section! Abigail sat literally at the edge of her seat through both acts. It was deja vu, watching Abigail delighting at the dancing, because the first year we went was when Frankie was seven. Another sweet little girl, sitting on Daddy's lap, leaning forward taking in all the spectacular entertainment.

Nasher Sculpture Center Home School Class

Today was another fabulous class at the Nasher Sculpture Center. In case you missed previous posts the Nasher was originally the private collection of Raymond & Patsy Nasher. In 2003 they chose to share their collection with Dallas. They purchased a large parking lot in the Arts District and went about transforming it to a beautiful indoor/outdoor galleria. Today we looked at the process's they went through to create this new home for their collection. The children took photos with them of design styles they enjoy. Caleb took photos of Delphi, Greece and Abigail took Thebes, Egypt. They then went about drawing blue prints, then using building blocks construction their galleries. They took inspiration from the Nasher as they sketched various pieces and looked at the beautiful travertine and marble materials used in the facility.